Mina The Vampire Slayer
by The Grimreaper PT
Summary: Buffy has a book to read for one of her classes. Unfortunately that book is dracula. When the slayer falls asleep reading she dreams that she is living Mina Harkers life. Set during Series 4.
1. Studying

Mina The Vampire Slayer

Disclaimer: I do not own BTVS or Dracula. This fanfiction is written for my own enjoyment only. I am not making any money from it. This story takes place during series 4. Oz has left and Willow is officially with Tara. Well obligatory disclaimer over and done with, now on with the story.

Chapter 1- Studying

Buffy walked into her dorm room and dumped the pile of books onto her bed. She really wasn't sure why she had taken the class. A little light reading Willow had said. Sure, light reading. Sure the book wasn't very long, about 300 pages, but it wasn't exactly going to be an enjoyable read. She had enough trouble watching martial arts films, how was she going to cope in reading Dracula! She had an assignment to write as well, which was definitely not going to be fun. How was she supposed to ignore all of her slayer instincts and all of the inaccuracies. Well she might as well start. She flopped onto the bed with her new copy of Dracula in her hands and started to read.

"3 May, Bistritz – Left Munich at 8:35pm..." Great, she thought, Diary extracts. This was going to be more difficult than she thought it would be. After reading only the first line Buffy put the book down and made her way over to the fridge. She reached in and retrieved a can of soda. As she pulled the tab she looked up at the clock. It was after 11. Guess Willow was staying at Tara's that night. Unfortunately she wouldn't get to see Riley tonight. He had discovered just how much work she had to do that night and had insisted she study tonight. Oh, well. If she wasn't going to have any fun anyway, she really should try and read the book. She didn't want to have to sacrifice another night to study.

Hours later the book lay on the floor where she had dropped it after finishing the last paragraph. Willow came in quietly trying not to wake her friend. She pulled the blanket up over Buffy as she slept and picked up the book. As she moved to put it onto the bedside table she glanced at the title and laughed. As she moved to turn the light out she wondered what the slayer was dreaming about.


	2. Becoming Mina

Chapter 2- Becoming Mina

Buffy opened her eyes briefly and then closed them again. That can't be right. She opened them again. No, she had seen correctly the first time. She wasn't in her dorm room. She was somewhere else. Looking around she didn't recognise the place at all. She was lying in a large wooden bed, covered with several old blankets. And wearing of all things a white nightdress with long sleeves, a high neck and fabric down to her ankles. What the Fuck?

She leant over to the nightstand in search of a light switch and finding a box of matches. As she lit a match she noticed a candle and lit that. OK no electric lamps then. Buffy stood up and decided to explore the room. She had decided not to think too hard about the fact that she had obviously been moved and redressed in her sleep. That thought was just too creepy.

There was a desk on the other side of the room. On top of it was a pile of letters. The first was a copy of a letter from herself to willow, although she didn't recognise the address, she vaguely recognised the content and the signature. She had definitely signed it, and that was her handwriting. However, although it seemed familiar, it didn't seem like the kind of thing she would write in a letter. Wait a minute, when would she write a letter. She looked closer at the words, where had she seen them before. They certainly didn't seem like words that she would write. Come to think of it, when was the last time she had written anything longer than a post card.

"_My Dearest Willow, _

_Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying."_

What? Assistant Schoolmistress?

"_I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together freely and build our castles in the air. I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Riley's studies, and I have been practising short-hand very assiduously. When we are married I shall be able to be useful to Riley, and if I can stenograph well enough I can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for him on the typewriter, at which also I am practising very hard."_

Come again. When did she become so pathetic? And Married? What was that about? "When we are married I shall be able to be useful to Riley" Useful! Like I don't have enough to do in my life!

"_He and I sometimes write letters in short-hand, and he is keeping a stenograph journal of his travels abroad. When I am with you I shall keep a diary in the same way. I don't mean one of those two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries, but a sort of journal which I can write in whenever I feel inclined. I do not suppose there will be much of interest to other people; but it is not intended for them. I may show it to Riley some day if there is in it anything worth sharing, but it is really an exercise book. I shall try to do what I see lady journalists do: interviewing and writing descriptions and trying to remember conservations. I am told that with a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that one hears said during the day. However we shall see. I shall tell you of my little plans when we meet. I have just had a few hurried lines from Riley from Transylvania."_

Transylvania? This is really weird.

"_He is well, and will be returning in about a week. I am longing to hear all his news. It must be so nice to see strange countries. I wonder if we – I mean Riley and I – shall ever see them together. There is the 10 o'clock bell ringing. Good-bye._

_Your Loving Buffy_

_P.S- Tell me all the news when you write. You have not told me anything for a long time. I hear rumours, and especially of love in your life."_

OK! Well she had realised where she had seen those words before. This letter was an extract from Dracula. A letter written from Mina, to her friend Lucy. The next letter was the same as Lucy's reply but was addressed to her from Willow.

"_My Dearest Buffy,_

_ I must say you tax me very unfairly with being a bad correspondent. I wrote to you twice since we parted, and your last letter was only your second. Besides I have nothing to tell you. There is really nothing to interest you. Town is very pleasant just now, and we go a good deal to picture galleries and for walks and rides in the park. As to love in my life. Someone has evidently been telling tales. There is a certain Miss Maclay."_

Maclay? Wasn't that Tara's last name? Tara? Well that made sense at least. If Willow was going to fall madly in love with anyone in this twisted Dracula universe it would have to be Tara.

"_She often comes to see us, and she and momma get on very well together; they have so many things to talk about in common."_

At this Buffy laughed. She was trying to imagine prim and proper Mrs Rosenberg sitting down and chatting to Willows girlfriend. But then the letter continued.

"_We met some time ago a man that would be perfect for you, if you were not already engaged to Riley. He is an excellent prospect for marriage, being handsome, well off, and of good birth. He is a doctor and really clever. His name is Dr Alexander Harris."_

Now Buffy was in hysterics. Which luckily saved her from thinking about her apparent engagement to Riley? It was just too ridicules, Xander, their Xander a doctor. She dried her eyes as she tried to read on.

"_Just fancy! He has an immense lunatic asylum all under his own care. Miss Maclay introduced him to me, and he called here to see us, and often comes now. I think he is one of the most resolute men I ever saw and yet the most calm. He seems absolutely imperturbable. I can fancy what a wonderful power he must have over his patients. He has a curious habit of looking one straight in the face, as if trying to read one's thoughts."_

She had to read the paragraph several times. Was she really talking about Xander? This universe really was strange.

"_He tires this on very much with me, but I flatter myself he has got a tough nut to crack. I know that from my glass. Do you ever try to read your own face? I do, and I can tell you it is not a bad study, and gives you more trouble than you can well fancy if you never tried it. He says that I afford him a curious psychological study, and I humbly think I do."_

This really was getting weird. Since when was Willow such an air head.

"_I do not, as you know, take sufficient interest in dress to be able to describe the new fashions. Dress is a bore. That is slang again, but never mind: Tara says that every day. There it is all out. Buffy, we have told all our secrets to each other since we were children; we have slept together and eaten together, and laughed and cried together; and now, though I have spoken, I would like to speak more."_

Well at least there was something she could still rely on. It seems that even here in bizzaro world she still had her best friend.

"_Oh, Buffy couldn't you guess, I love her. I am blushing as I write, for although I think she loves me, she has not told me so I words. But oh Buffy, I love her; I love her; I love her! There that does me good. I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire undressing, as we used to sit; and I would try to tell you what I feel. I do not know how I am writing this even to you. I am afraid to stop, or I should tear up the letter, and I do not want to stop, for I do so want to tell you all. Let me hear from you at once, and tell me all that you think about it. Buffy, I must stop. Goodnight. Bless me in your prayers and Buffy, pray for my happiness."_

_Willow_

_P.S- I need not tell you this is secret. Goodnight again._

_W_

And there it was. Memories assaulted Buffy, Guilty memories. She remembered when Willow had finally told her about Tara. When Willow had finally admitted what Tara truly meant to her. Buffy hadn't taken the news as well as she should have. And here in this letter she could see how nervous her friend had been to tell her. Frantically she reached for the last letter on the pile. She drastically hoped that it would be her reply, but that was missing. What she found instead was Willow's next letter.

"_My dearest Buffy,_

_ Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again for your sweet letter. It was so nice to be able to tell you and to have your sympathy._

Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently she had taken the news better this time around, or had she. These letters were the same as those written by Lucy and Mina. How much of her personality was still her own? Was she Buffy or was she Mina?

_My dear it never rains but it pours. How true the old proverbs are. Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I have never had a proposal till today, not a real proposal, and today I have had three. Just fancy! Three proposals in one day! Isn't it awful! I feel sorry, really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows. Oh, Buffy, I am so happy that I don't know what to do with myself. And three proposals! But, for goodness sake, don't tell any of the girls, or they would be getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at least. Some girls are so vain! You and I, Buffy dear, who are engaged and are, going to settle down soon soberly into old married woman, can despise vanity. _

Despite her confusion Buffy couldn't help but laugh. For some reason when Willow had mentioned vanity Cordelia had instantly popped into her head.

_Well I must tell you about the three, but you must keep it a secret, dear, from everyone, except of course Riley. You will tell him, because I would, if I were in your place, certainly tell Tara. A woman ought to tell her Husband/Wife everything- don't you think so dear? – And I must be fair._

Well today really was the day for disconcerting thoughts. Would she tell Riley something like this? Really? Did she bother to tell him anything about her friends besides the necessary? And what Willow had said about Tara was true. The two of them were much closer than herself and Riley.

_Well, my dear, number One came just before lunch. I told you of him, Dr Alexander Harris, the lunatic-asylum man. He was very cool outwardly, but nervous all the same. He had evidently been schooling himself as to all sorts of little things, and remembered them; but he almost managed to sit down on his silk hat, which men don't generally do when they are cool, and then when he wanted to appear at ease he kept playing with a lancet in a way that made me nearly scream. He spoke to me, Buffy, very straightforwardly. He told me how dear I was to him, though he had known me so little, and what his life would be with me to help and cheer him. He was going to tell me how unhappy he would be if I did not care for him, but when he saw me cry he said that he was a brute and would not add to my present trouble. Then he broke off and asked me if I could love him in time; and when I shook my head his hands trembled, and then with some hesitation he asked me if I cared already for anyone else. He put it very nicely, saying that he did not want to wring my confidence from me, but only to know, because if a woman's heart was free a man might have hope. And then, Buffy, I felt a sort of duty to tell him that there was some one. I only told him that much, and then he stood up, and he looked very strong and very grave as he took both my hands in his and said he hoped I would be happy, and that if I ever wanted a friend I must count him as one of my best. Oh, Buffy dear, I can't help crying: and you must excuse this letter being all blotted. Being proposed to is all very nice and all that sort of thing, but it isn't at all a happy thing when you have to see a poor fellow, whom you know loves you honestly, going away and looking all broken-hearted, and to know that, no matter what he may say at the moment, you are passing quite out of his life. My dear, I must stop here at present, I feel so miserable, though I am so happy._

Buffy blinked a couple of times. Even though she had read this section of the book she was still shocked. Xander proposing? Xander being calm proposing? Xander taking rejection calmly?

_Tara has just gone, and I feel in better spirits than when I left off, so I can go on telling you about the day. Well my dear, number two came after lunch. He is such a nice fellow. Mr Daniel Osbourne found me alone._

Oz?

_He sat down beside me and looked as happy and jolly as he could, but I could see all the same that he was nervous. He took my hand in his, and before I could say a word he began pouring out a perfect torrent of lovemaking, laying his heart and soul at my feet._

Buffy tried, unsuccessfully, to imagine Oz talking a torrent of anything.

_I suppose he saw something in my face which checked him, for he suddenly stopped. He asked me then if I loved another and I knew that I could have loved him, had I been free. I am glad to say that, though I was crying, I was able to look into Mr Osbourne's brave eyes, and told him straight:- "Yes, there is someone I love, though she has not told me yet that she even loves me" I was right to speak to him so frankly, but my dear, it quite upset me, and I feel I cannot write of happiness just at once, after telling you of it; and I don't wish to tell you of the number three until it can be happy."_

_ Ever your Loving_

_ Willow_

Buffy wished she could have been there for her best friend. She remembered the last time Willow had to choose between Oz and Tara. No wonder she was upset.

_ P.S. Oh, about number three- I needn't tell you of number three, need I? Besides, it was all so confused; it seemed only a moment from her coming into the room till both her arms were round me, and she was kissing me. I am very, very happy, and I don't know what I have done to deserve it. I must only try in the future to show that I am not ungrateful to god for all his goodness to me in sending to me such a lover, such a wife, and such a friend._

_ W_

Next to the pile of letters on the desk was a train ticket to Whitby. Buffy looked again at Willow's address. Whitby. And in her first she had mentioned how much she was looking forward to seeing her friend. Well it looked like she was going to see Willow.


	3. Willow and Whitby

Chapter 3- Willow and Whitby

Buffy stepped off the train and onto the platform. Willow was supposed to meet her here. She had no idea what to expect here. Would her best friend be the same as she was back home or would she be a warped version of Lucy from Dracula. On the train Buffy had had time to think. She hadn't managed to read very far into the book, but she knew what was coming. Pretty soon there would be a vampire to deal with. The idea worried her. She wasn't really Buffy here, she was Mina, and she had no idea how much slayer had come with her. Seeing willow would give her some idea.

There she was standing quietly on the platform looking around for her. Buffy waved and willow came running up to give her a hug. "You made it" Willow exclaimed taking her hand and pulling her towards a car parked not far away. "It wasn't that difficult to find Will" Buffy said. The car's driver opened the door for them and they stepped inside. "Yes, but travelling all by yourself, such a long way." Buffy rolled her eyes. She really hated this Victorian attitude to woman. Did everyone expect her to be mugged and ravished the second she was alone. It was ridiculous. "The journey was fine, nothing happened."

For the rest of the journey Willow pointed out the Whitby landmarks as they drove. When they reached the house Buffy gasped. It was huge, like a mansion. So different to the little room she had woken up in the day before. But then again that was evident in the book wasn't it. Lucy was rich and Mina was not. Willow's mother greeted them and Buffy was a again stuck by the differences between this place and the reality she knew. Within minutes though she was in one of the guest rooms unpacking. Things had been moving so fast. She had been told to rest after her journey, so Buffy sat down and looked out of the window. This place was so strange.

Later Buffy sat on a bench next to a large graveyard. It was nice and quiet here. She could see the entire town from here. She felt more at home beside the gravestones. There was something comforting and familiar about sitting here. It was almost like she was back at home waiting for a corpse to turn. She was trying to waste some time. Willow and her mother had gone visiting someone or another, and she hadn't wanted to stay in that huge house. She looked down at the journal in her hand. She had been writing in it not long ago but couldn't remember doing it. As she read it back she realised just how much she was turning into Mina.

_Willow met me at the station, looking sweeter and lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the crescent in which they have many rooms. This is a lovely place. The little river, the Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the harbour._

Buffy stopped reading. What? She had barely noticed the scenery as they drove, half listening to Willow as she had pointed out the landmarks. And she definitely wouldn't normally have remembered the name of the river. It was only after reading it did she remember Willow saying it. How had she written that without any of the information registering in her brain? She read on.

_A great Viaduct runs past with high piers, through which the view seems somehow further away than it really is. The valley is beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on the high land on either side you look right across it, unless you are near enough to see down. The houses of the old town- the side away from us- are all red roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the pictures we see of Nuremburg._

Nuremberg? Nuremberg? How can she compare one thing she has briefly glanced with something else she has never seen? The answer unfortunately was obvious. Mina had seen them. For some reason she had both her memories and Mina's own.

_Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of Marmion, where the girl was built up in the wall._

Buffy blinked a couple of times. What? There were so many things wrong with that sentence she thought her brain cells were exploding. Had she just written that, not ten minutes ago she had stopped writing. She couldn't remember any of this. And she was sure writing about some girl being bricked up in a wall was something she would remember.

_It is a most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows._

OK, she was going to stop reading now. This was freaking her out. How could she write this without knowing any of it? Was she remembering the book? But then how was she remembering it in such vivid detail without reading further than a couple of chapters. She was sure she hadn't reached this far. Or was she channelling the character of Mina somehow. Was it even possible to channel a fictional character? If not whose words were she writing? Stoker's? Her head hurt. Then she saw an old man walking towards her.

She remembered the mention of a white lady haunting the abbey and decided to ask him about it. There was no point in asking him about the other thoughts battering about inside her head. "I wouldn't fash masel' about them miss. Them things be all worn out. Mind, I don't say that they never was, but I do say that they wasn't in my time. They be all very well for comers and trippers, an' the like, but not for a nice young lady like you. Them feet-folks from York and Leeds that be always eating herrin's and drinkin' tea an' lookin' out to buy cheap jet would creed aught. I wonder masel' who'd be bothered tellin' lies to them- even the newspapers, which is full of fool-talk"

As the man walked off Buffy tried to digest what he had said. Everything here was so confusing. She watched him descend the long line of steps leading down to the village and wondered whether she should head back to the house. Willow would be back soon and she wanted to spend some time with her. Even if Willow was more than half Lucy here, she was still Willow.


	4. No News

Chapter 4- No News

Buffy read the short note over and over again. It said nothing, absolutely nothing. After not hearing from Riley for over a month Buffy had written to Mr Hawkins, his superior and received a short note written by Riley, stating that he was on his way back. She didn't believe it for a second. She had known all along deep down that Riley's trip had been to Transylvania, to castle Dracula. And yet she had been so worried about all the strange things that had been happening that she had forgotten what that meant.

Now she knew. Riley was trapped in Castle Dracula with the legendary vampire and there was nothing she could do. She tried to console herself with the fact that Riley knew what he was doing but, this wasn't her Riley. Not completely anyway. In this warped dimension he didn't have his Initiative training. He was just a man.

There was another problem as well. Willow was sleepwalking. It had started a couple of weeks ago. Buffy had moved into her friend's room to keep an eye on her and now locked the door every night just in case. She still had her slayer intuition, to some extent. And she knew that there would not be a logical explanation for the sudden change in Willow. There must be another reason for her sleepwalking, most likely a supernatural one.

Aside from that she had also been helping Willow prepare for her upcoming wedding. Buffy smiled. Tara would be here soon. There was a small part of Buffy's mind that tried to convince her that this was the cause of Willow's walking at night, but the rest of her knew that it was not true.

Thinking about Willow however lead her back to worrying about Riley. During their talks about Willow's wedding the discussion had inevitably led to Buffy's own plans of marriage and wondering where he was. Buffy picked up her journal from the bedside table and glanced at the most recent entries.

_26__th__ July- I am anxious... I am unhappy about Willow and Riley... That is not like Riley: I do not understand it and it makes me uneasy... Willow, although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in her sleep..._

_27__th__ July- No news from Riley. I am getting quite uneasy about him... Willow walks more than ever, and each night I am awakened by her moving about in our room..._

_3__rd__ August- Another week gone and no news from Riley... I look at the last letter of his, but somehow it does not satisfy me. It does not read like him, and yet it is his writing... Willow has not walked much in her sleep the last week, but there is an odd concentration about her which I do not understand; even in her sleep she seems to be watching me. She tries the door and finding it locked, goes about the room searching for the key..._

_6__th__ August- Another three days, and no news... no one has heard a word from Riley since his last letter..._

The pattern is impossible to miss. Mina it seems was as worried as her about what had been happening. Without the experience that Buffy had Mina knew that something was wrong and there was nothing that either of them could do. It was incredibly frustrating to know that as a woman there was nothing she could do. In that Buffy and Mina were very similar, they could sense the coming evil and yet there was nothing they could do to protect the people they cared about. Buffy sat down and sighed. Fr the first time in a long time she felt entirely useless.


End file.
